In Kandahar, the Taliban targets and assassinates those who support U.S. efforts

By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, May 22, 2010

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- The Wolesi family was everything the American military cannot afford to lose.

The father was a devoted civil servant. The mother taught sewing classes for the United Nations. The eldest son, Jawed Ahmad, worked as an interpreter at the NATO base.

But with a dozen bullets last month, the Taliban won the battle for the Wolesi family. Ahmad's father was executed in the street. His mother quit her job. Ahmad dropped out of college and does not want to leave the house. Or open his mouth: "When my father passed away, I lost my English," he said in Pashto.

In Kandahar, the Taliban's most powerful weapon has become the calculated assassination. The tools of this campaign are rudimentary -- ropes, knives, old rifles -- but the results have been devastating. By executing those who work or sympathize with the government, the Taliban has made clear that those supporting the American military effort here are risking their lives. Each new death brings more dread in a city of hunters and hunted.

(More here.)